"I would have never believed it."

Dorothy Bayler, my wife’s 103-year-old grandmother captured the moment.

When told of the excitement which was being transmitted from Camp Frontier, our 20-acre wooded compound south of Fairfield, she exclaimed:

“Well, I would have never believed it.”

The unbelievable news?

I had harvested an eight point buck with an arrow.

Later that day, my dear silver haired mother was walking from her room at Bethalto’s Villa Rose when she bumped into Jeff Dyer, Bethalto’s most eligible bachelor, who told her the news. Even she couldn’t believe it.

About an hour after Mom gasped in disbelief, my former radio boss Dave Land was driving between Fairfield and Flora with his lovely wife, Kathy, when she exclaimed, “You won’t believe it! Mike actually got a deer!” Dave nearly drove off the pavement.

No, it didn’t make the window at the Wayne County Press, but….

The news even stunned me. And I was there. So, here’s how it went down…

Shortly after 7:15 am on Saturday, October 28^th, I heard something to my left while perched in an oak tree. I had never harvested a deer despite three long years of hunting. Deer were talking behind my back….literally.

Back to the story of the harvest…

There he was….a buck….only 25 feet away. It was like all of my dreams. He stood there totally oblivious to my presence. I slowly drew a bead on him and squeezed the trigger on my crossbow.

The buck leaped and bolted north. Did I hit him? I dunno….

He was soon out of sight.

I took out my phone and texted my wife, who was snug in bed at her parent’s house, a quarter mile away.

“Shot at buck. Point blank range. If I missed him, I’m an idiot. I’ll get down in a minute and start tracking him.”

Then I started down the 15-foot ladder to my tree stand.

I missed a step and fell about eight feet, face planting myself in the leaves. I rolled over and determined there were no substantial injuries….and gathered myself to learn the fate of my hunt.

I walked about 50 yards when I spotted him down….on his side….my arrow in his ass. That’s not where I aimed, but it did the job.

Carol came driving our Kawasaki Mule. I actually field dressed my harvest using the skills learned on a YouTube video. Our daughter Rachel came and all three of us had to struggle to get the buck into the Mule.

We took him to a processing plant in Wayne City where I ordered deer sausage, deer burger….and told them to save the head for the taxidermist. This buck will grace the mantle over the fireplace in our soon-to-be-completed cabin.

I estimate that I spent over 60 hours in that tree stand over the last three years without any success. The cost in dollars, I’d hate to print here. You would agree I’m an idiot.

I froze, I plotted, I took trailcam photos….I moved my stand…..I erected two more stands….and finally…after multiple failures…..I persevered.

An old deer flung his-self in front of my arrow and there will be meat for the freezer.

Even Grandma Bayler couldn’t believe it.

And here’s the good news.

I have two more shotgun deer tags.

I’m gonna keep freezing in the treetops.

Don’t ask me why…

But if you did ask me…

I’d say this…

Nobody believed it possible for me to kill one deer. Just ask Grandma Bayler.

Now I have to prove it wasn’t a fluke.